Hreno

DJ

Biography

Christopher Hreno had brought his first record by the age of seven, and was already playing his first gig – a wedding- at eleven. The record stores of Montreal, where he grew up, were to become his second home, as he acquainted himself with the vast swathes of music and styles around him. “Montreal was a diggers paradise,” Hreno says about those formative years. It was this attraction to digging that has come to define his approach to DJing. “It’s about sharing the music I’ve collected and piecing them together for the people,” as he puts it.

Hreno’s dedication to DJing invariably helped him work his way into the Montreal club scene. Later on, having moved to Vancouver to attend art school, he eventually met fellow cohort, companion and future co-producer Colin de la Plante, aka. The Mole, in one of the city’s most esteemed stores, Hush Records. Hreno made his way to the Netherlands around 2006, a period in which he spent several years mastering his studio technique, and immersing himself in the local house scene.

Since moving to Berlin In 2009, Hreno has become a well-versed traveller, DJing clubs in such major cities as London, Singapore, Barcelona, and of course, regularly playing out in the German capital itself. His style is built around that diversity in taste that contains solid minimal textures rooted in house proficiency with a familiarity in pronounced basslines, all mixed together with a background in seminal funk and disco. A sound that is defined by one his more stand out releases, Frank Barns, released on Meander in 2013. On certain occasions, you can even catch Hreno playing live – an analogue set built around drum machines and synthesizers that relies purely on improvisation. But that’s Hreno’s way. You’ll never hear a single set that sounds the same, whether he’s playing live or DJing. You can thank Montreal for that.